How often do you think about the future? What will it be like? What about the church? How often do you reflect on the future of Christ's Bride, the church? I settled on 1 Thessalonians 4:16 today and boy did it get me to thinking. For centuries men and women have been saying that the Lord is returning and what a glorious event that will be. And then I continued to read verses 17 & 18 and even became more involved in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."
I'm not sure that more encouraging words could possibly be spoken than these. God is not going to send someone down here to "retrieve" us but rather Jesus Christ is coming Himself and the Bible says He will be "SHOUTING." I can only imagine (reminds me of a song). And according to God's Word, we'll hear the trumpet of God (I wonder what that will sound like to us). Then suddenly graves will break open and the "dead in Christ will rise first." Can you imagine being there to witness this miraculous event. There's no telling who we might witness "popping" out of the ground to go be with the Lord. WHOA!
Then it will happen for us, if we are fortunate enough to be here and alive at that very moment (in that twinkling of an eye) we, you and I, will be "caught up" together along with them into the clouds to meet Jesus IN THE AIR! WOW! I can't wait. I remember a Christian comedian from the late 70's by the name of Mike Warnke (some of you may have heard of him). I was at one of his shows and he was excited about just discussing the second coming of Christ and he said "It's gonna be a blast. Jesus will come back and as I start to go up into the clouds, I'm gonna grab a sinner in each hand and say 'Are you gonna get saved or do I let go'? I thought that was funny. And then the verse ends with the promise of the church's future..."and thus we shall always be with the Lord." Incredible! Always being with the Lord. That's my kind of day.
As Paul writes this letter to the church, he gives them a glimpse of the church's future and a demonstration of how the Lord will return for us. It is important that we know this for it is a promise of hope as we wait patiently on the Lord, some of us continually fighting battles and trials, for that last person He wants to hear the gospel. You may be sharing Christ with that person later on today, after reading this devotion. Wouldn't that be amazing?
The Lord is coming back for His church, and He wants us to be ready. And we simply need to know and believe by faith that the true Church of Jesus Christ has a glorious, victorious future in the world, in the air, in the kingdom, and in eternity and it CANNOT fail. In fact, Matthew 16:18 says "The gates of Hades shall not overpower it." What more do we need to "Go" and "Do" as He has commanded us? Told anyone about Him lately? Sharing your testimony may be the only thing holding Him back! Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
Dave
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